


Of Double Dates and Hot Pursuits

by NicePumpkinSpice



Series: Of Sweet Memories and Guarded Moments [72]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 02:18:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5399171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicePumpkinSpice/pseuds/NicePumpkinSpice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evelyn wants another couple to tag along on an outing with Cullen.  Is she trying to avoid something?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Double Dates and Hot Pursuits

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't properly tag the installment prior to this one as belonging to the series at first, so you may have missed it if you get your updates through a subscription. Check to make sure you've read "Of Long Runs and Thorny Situations" before proceeding with this one.

In the two months after they reunited, Cullen and Evelyn spent much of their waking hours together - working on Inquisition matters during the day and their relationship in their off hours. Often Graham tagged along on their dates, and Cullen was glad to see how well Ev and his little boy interacted. She’d made a special section of her garden just for Graham - with pint sized garden tools and non-toxic plants. Graham loved joining Evelyn for garden time, and Cullen was amazed by how the normally fastidious to a fault Evelyn was able to not only tolerate but enjoy the mess his son made as he tried to emulate her digging, watering, and pruning.

Evelyn had even earned her own nickname from Graham - Boo. Graham was all boy and constantly getting injured when he pushed the boundaries of good sense with his rough and tumble play. Norah or Cullen often brought him to Evelyn for healing his bumps and bruises, so he started calling her the boo-boo lady which eventually got shortened to Boo. Cullen worried about his son’s lack of formality, but Evelyn adored her nickname and encouraged its use. “I want him to feel comfortable around me, Cullen,” she explained. “And it’s so cute the way he says it.”

Although they spent so much time together during the day, Evelyn and Cullen were still sleeping separately. At the onset, Cullen had been insistent that they work on relating to each other outside of the bedroom. Evelyn had been less than thrilled with the idea at first but had come around so much to it that Cullen was getting a bit worried that he’d overcorrected. When Evelyn suggested that they might go swimming together, he was hopeful that he might be able to at least kindle a few romantic moments at the hot spring if not fully reestablish the entirety of their relationship. They’d be barely dressed. Evelyn tended to be clingy around water ... perfect opening for something more.

When Evelyn told him over dinner (and as Graham happily munched on his supper beside her) that she’d invited some friends along for a double date at the springs, Cullen was perturbed. _You made this situation with your noble ideas about abstinence,_ he chided himself inwardly before asking, “So who’s coming with?”

“Sera and her girlfriend,” Evelyn replied as she stole a hushpuppy off Cullen’s plate.

“Asala?” Cullen asked.

“Asala?” Evelyn repeated while shaking her head and furrowing her brow. “They haven’t been together in _months_ , Cullen. I was a bit too wrapped up in our break up to get all the details and Sera was in no mood for sharing them, but I do know Asala was the one that ended it. I got the impression that she thought Sera needed to grow up. Anyway, Sera has a new girl, and I thought they’d be fun to hang out with...”

_Hanging out with Sera ... terrific,_ Cullen thought as he rubbed his forehead before blocking Evelyn from taking his last hushpuppy. “I thought you said you just wanted soup,” he groused.

“I thought I did too,” Evelyn replied as she stared wistfully at his plate.

Cullen grunted and broke the hushpuppy in half. “I hope you appreciate this,” he intoned as he grudgingly handed Evelyn her share.

Evelyn hummed happily as she sunk her teeth into the hushpuppy. “You’re the best,” she praised.

“So the new girlfriend? Do I know her?” Cullen quizzed.

Evelyn nodded as she swallowed a spoonful of soup before answering in a low whisper, “It’s Dagna.”

“Dagna?!?” Cullen nearly shouted.

“Shh... things are still really new between them. I’m not sure they’re ready for everyone to know, but yes - Dagna. I thought something was up when I’d be in the undercroft mixing potions, and Sera kept showing up with equipment that she needed repaired. It was obvious - to me at least- that she was purposefully breaking things to have an excuse to be at the forge. So I confronted her about it, and she admitted that she had a huge crush on Dagna. Anyway, I played matchmaker, and they’re soooo cute together,” Evelyn bubbled.

“You set up Skyhold’s biggest prankster with its mad scientist? You don’t think that could go terribly, horribly wrong?” Cullen pressed.

“What do you mean?” Evelyn wondered aloud before answering her own question. “Oh, you’re worried about Dagna upping the ante on Sera’s pranking - aren’t you? You’ll be happy to know I established a no prank zone around you, Commander, as a condition of setting them up. You can thank me later,” Evelyn said with a wink. “You should know, however, that you’re still subject to pranks that I’m in on ... it’s only fair.”

Cullen chuckled. Sera and Evelyn brought out the best and worst in each other. Both had hard childhoods and instinctively related to each other because of that. Sera had a way of cutting through Evelyn’s defenses that awed Cullen, and he appreciated that Sera would call Ev out on her “shite” whenever she started lying to herself or building walls. On the other hand, Sera and Ev loved practical jokes - especially ones aimed at him. The idea of Sera being able to create pranks augmented by Dagna’s scarily creative mind was unnerving - still he was safe for now.

“Is something wrong?” Evelyn asked as she studied Cullen’s face.

“No, nothing,” Cullen lied which earned him an arched eyebrow and a mouthed _bullshit_ from Evelyn.

_It was also your brilliant idea not to hold things back,_ he reminded himself before recanting his assertion that everything was fine. “It’s just that I was hoping to... I mean... it’s been awhile since...”

Evelyn looked like a cat who swallowed a canary as he stumbled for an explanation. “Why, Commander, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were getting flustered,” she teased. “What have you been missing? Hmm... we haven’t sparred in ages... No, that can’t be it. You lock swords with your men all the time. I wonder...”

“Very funny, Ev,” Cullen snarled as he stabbed at a green bean on his plate.

“Cullen, what do you want me to say?” she asked with sincerity before pointing out, “ _You_ wanted this _arrangement_ \- not me.”

“I know I did,” Cullen growled. “But I’m getting a bit concerned that you’ve adapted too well to it.”

“Why’s that?” Evelyn asked as she lazily twirled a strand of hair as she gleefully watched Cullen squirm.

“You don’t even _try_ to get me in bed anymore,” he said in a low voice after checking around him that no one was close enough to hear.

“You made it abundantly clear that you weren’t interested,” Evelyn threw back.

“Maker’s breath, Ev! It’s not that I wasn’t interested... it’s just I wanted us to hash things out first,” he whispered.

“Oh, I see...” Evelyn said. “So I’ve passed the first test... on to the final?”

“Ev, that’s not fair,” Cullen protested.

“Isn’t it? I agreed to take things slowly because _you_ asked me to. Now I’ve met some artificial benchmark in your head, and I’m supposed to just hop back in bed with you? What if I’m not ready? Have you thought about that?” she whispered back angrily.

Cullen hadn’t. Evelyn had an astonishingly low sleep requirement and an amazingly high sex drive. He never considered that she might _want_ to wait longer than he did - especially with the way she had thrown herself at him initially. He felt ashamed of his presumptions and aggravated by her about face. “You never gave me any reason to... I mean I just guessed that...” he tried to explain before growing frustrated and running a hand through his hair before banging it on the table. “Ev, I’m confused. Help me out here.”

“I didn’t like the idea at first, but you’re right I got used to it. I like how and where we are right now... and I’m worried that we’ll mess that up. That we’ll stop talking if we start ...” Evelyn mouthed _fucking_ as she blushed at her use of the word.

Cullen sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Ev, I have no intention of letting that happen, but I don’t want to pressure you. I’ll just put it out there that I’m ready to move forward when you are.”

“Duly noted,” Evelyn replied as she played with a fork on the table and studiously avoided eye contact with Cullen. 

She stayed silent through two verses of Maryden’s tune before talking again. “I don’t want you to think of what I said as a _No_. It’s just a _Not yet._ BUT I want you to be the one to take the initiative ... to pursue me and make me feel wanted. It’s almost always been the other way around. I started the conversation that got us together the first time. I coaxed you along into making things more physical between us. I’m the one that technically proposed. And I’m the one that broke it off. I don’t want to be the leader anymore. I don’t want to take all the risks.”

“So what does that mean? What are you wanting me to do?” Cullen queried. 

“It means I want you to keep trying, and that I promise that someday - probably sooner than later - my _not yet_ will become a _yes._ Alright?” Evelyn asked as she bit her lip waiting for his response.

“Alright,” Cullen agreed as he squeezed her hand.


End file.
